Pleasant Valley School Board Approves All Day Kindergarten

By Brian Myszkowski Pocono Record Writer

It’s official – Pleasant Valley School District will have full-day kindergarten starting in the 2019-2020 school year.

A motion to implement the plan was unanimously approved during Thursday’s board of education meeting, drawing applause from a crowd of teachers, parents, and administrators. Board members Russell Gould and Robert Serfass were absent.

Curriculum director Dr. Susan Mowrer Benda and elementary principal Roger Pomposello originally presented a wealth of information supporting the full-day kindergarten model during the Oct. 25 board meeting.

“Last meeting, Dr. Susan Mowrer Benda and her team presented a very comprehensive and concise presentation and recommendation for beginning all-day kindergarten next year, and at this time I would like to make a motion to that Pleasant Valley begin all-day kindergarten for the 2019-2020 school year,” board member Donna Yozwiak said, with fellow member Laura Jecker seconding the motion.

Board president Leonard Peeters opened the floor to comments, as the motion was not present in the evening’s agenda, though no one in the audience opted to speak.

Members of the board expressed their support for the motion during the discussion, hailing the full day program that opens up the day for more time to teach core subjects like math and reading and more opportunities for social development instruction.

“I think this is going to be a great start because our teachers are wonderful, the curriculum is wonderful,” Jecker said. “This is not babysitting like people think it is – this is instruction from the time they get there, it’s socialization.”

Treasurer Kenneth Cocuzzo said that more education would set the stage for a better future when it came to students’ studies.

“I think when you can get them at a younger age, I think you’re molding them for the future,” he said. “The earlier you do that, the better the advantages for them to succeed later on. So I think it’s a great idea for us to proceed with this program, I really do.”

Vice president Susan Kresge, who suggested delaying a vote on all-day kindergarten at the last meeting, expressed her support and explained her intentions with putting the motion on hold.

“I certainly would have voted for it last meeting, I am going to vote for it this evening, but I really just needed to have [district business manager] Susan [Famularo] do her magic with the numbers so that if someone out in the public, a community member, would come to me and say to me ‘How is this going to affect the budget? How is it going to affect our bottom line? What does it do?’ I now have the answers to answer those questions,” Kresge said.

Initial startup costs for all-day kindergarten would come to $973,697, with $728,064 in annual operating costs. Most of the expenses would be relegated to teachers’ salaries, in addition to curriculum development and materials, furniture, technology considerations and additional services like expanded nursing and guidance.

Board member Daniel Wunder concluded the discussion before the vote by expressing his opinion on the matter in a simple but powerful statement.

“As a former principal of the kindergarten program for 13 years, it’s about time,” Wunder said.